As we looked out over the mountains and grasslands of the Chihuahuan Desert of SE New Mexico, we couldn’t help wonder what lied beneath-we were about to find out. Day 4 brought us to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in the rugged Guadalupe Mountains. We descended almost 800 feet below the surface to start our guided tour of these caverns, only one of 119 found in the park.
Before the tour began, Tyler and I had a good laugh. Ty had gone over to another area to check something out, and I remained standing at our tour meeting spot. I noticed two other people standing about 20′ away from me, with a man holding a camera and cell phone. As Tyler returned, I watched him walk in the direction of the man holding the camera, with his wife next to him. I knew exactly what was about to happen and being the good dad that I was, I just stood there and let it play out, while holding back my laughter. He walked right up to the guy, stood next to him and started talking to him, as if it were me. Before the guy could say anything, Tyler paused looked at him, then glanced over and saw me, as he said, “Sorry'” and mumbled something else as he embarrassingly walked back to me. I burst out laughing, and he even chuckled a bit, too. The two people were cool about it and got a laugh at it as well.
The caverns were awesome! So many different formations, in such rooms as The Big Room, The Kings Palace (the name of our tour) and the Queen’s Chamber. The tour was about 1-mile in length as we walked, and ducked through a few tight corridors that opened up into some impressive sights. This is one of those natural wonders that you must experience in person. Pictures and video just can’t do it.
Our last stop of the day was Roswell, the location of the (alleged) biggest alien cover up ever. It was here in 1947 that supposedly an alien space ship crashed out in the desert, but the military denied the event and quickly came in to “clean everything up and take what ever was found, including alien bodies.” Whatever your opinion may be, there were a few witnesses who came forth to say they had seen the crash site, parts of the spaceship and the top secret military who took over the entire incident. Today, there a few businesses that embrace the entire alien crash story, including the International UFO Museum and Research Center. For $5/person you can read/view all about this historical event, plus learn about alien abductions, crop circles, and every other aspect of UFOs. It was truly an educational, and entertaining, visit! I believe, just like I believe the Boggy Creek Monster roams the swamps around Fouke, AR!
Someone asked me about seeing any wildlife along the way. We’ve seen very little in the routes we’ve chosen, and it’s not due to a lack of looking. We saw one Mule deer in someone’s yard yesterday, but that’s just about it. The only “consistent” wildlife we’ve see are Red-tailed Hawks-lots of them.
